HEARTS are next season hopeful of surviving without 'outside funding' for the first time during Vladimir Romanov's time at the helm of the club.

Romanov has recently reiterated his desire to sell the Gorgie outfit, with the right kind of buyer for the Scottish Cup winners being actively sought.

The Russian-born banker, who made a rare visit to Scotland to watch the Hampden rout of Hibs 10 days ago, has been keen to scale back his involvement in the club for some time, with the global economic downturn putting pressures on the money available to the Tynecastle side.

With Romanov unwilling to bankroll the kind of losses that typified his early reign, cash-flow problems saw the players and staff paid their wages late on four occasions during the last season.

A host of higher earners, including Ian Black, Marian Kello, David Obua and Adrian Mrowiec, have since been jettisoned in a bid to bring the wage bill down.

Vladimir Romanov has recently reiterated his desire to sell Hearts

A profit of £511,000 was recently posted for the 11 months to June 30, 2011 and the club's debt was also slashed from £36.1 million to £24 million due to a £10 million debt-for-equity conversion agreed in November 2010.

And director Sergejus Fedotovas is optimistic that Hearts can finally be self-sufficient next term as they prepare for a season blooding their homegrown talent in a youthful squad augmented by the likes of Andy Webster, Danny Grainger and Andrew Driver.

He said: "With the support of UBIG (Romanov's Ukio Bankas Investment Group) we continue to make very good progress in reaching self-sustainability and we are satisfied we are on the right road.

"The recently-released financial results and progress made this season gives us a lot of hope that this position is already achieved and we can maintain it.

"If we work hard enough, and with some luck, next season can be the first without outside funding."

Meanwhile, Hearts have been linked with a move for former Real Madrid youngster David Soria Solis.

The 19-year-old keeper is understood to have impressed Tynecastle coaches during a week-long trial earlier this month but talks over a deal are on hold until the future of manager Paulo Sergio is resolved.

Solis arrived in Scotland for his trial with fellow Spaniard Diego Moreno Minguez and both played in a bounce game against Livingston, but Minguez did not impress enough for a deal to be pursued.